photos:1. curtain features of the underwater caves
2. stalagmites
3. glo-worms
4. ferry to cross the Cook Strait
5. lamb supper
6. Terawera volcano
7. Redwood tree
8. luging in Rotorua
9. driving
10. sheep from around the world at the Agrodome
11. animals on the farm
12. "swooping"
13. after the "swooping"
14. Larry after his bungy
15. Thermal spa
16. Lake Rotorua
17. in from of a bubbling mud pool
18. steam escaping from the road vents
19. Auckland
20. Maori tribe member during a huka with a battling tribe at the induction of a Maori receiving the Victoria Cross
21. Huka
22. Larry- our fearless driver
23. Larry and Dix in front of the second largest (or oldest) Kauri tree in New Zealand
So I have to tell you.. driving around New Zealand in a camper van (or vehicle of some sort) is an amazing experience. One really doesn't have to do a whole lot, but take in the view.. and as Dixie said "the view is worth the money!".
I met Larry and Dixie on May 2nd and Larry has been a driving machine since then. We headed North on the North Island to Paihia to where the infamous Treaty of Waitangi was signed by all the Maori tribes and since then they have been living in cooperation with the European settlers and it is seen so much more here than in Australia.
Larry and Dixie only have 17 days in NZ, so we are really picking and choosing where to go and what to see and do. Unfortunately there will be much we miss, but so far everywhere we have gone has been amazing! We opted out of spending any time on the 90 mile beach and head around to the far side of the North Island and head to Rotorua.
There are thermal hot springs all over because New Zealand is built on volcanoes, some which are not so dormant! We have gone to a few places and luckily many of our places we are camping each night have a pool to soak in. The weather has cleared up, finally and it makes everything so much greener and lovely!
Rotorua is really and odd place! Literally built on a volcano it has steam rising through the road grates and there are pools of mud bubbling throughout the town! Dixie and I treated ourselves to a mud bath and massage.. Nice to relax! Here to we met up with Dinesh who is over working as a doctor, and it sounds like he wants to stay. We also spent a day at the Agrodome. A strange combination of farming and animals and adrenaline rush type of activities, but a neat way to spend the day. After a sheep show, milking cows, and feeding lambs, we went off on a tractor for a tour of the farm, then off to some adrenaline pumping events for Larry! Larry and I "Swooped" - set in sleeping bag type apparatus, pulled back until you are 43 meters in the air and dropped like a swing, back and forth!!, Larry "bungeed", and Dixie and I "sweebed"- in oval shaped objects, peddling at 100 km/hr, and racing the clock for 3 laps. Lots of fun!! Dinesh was a great host. He bought us a welcome lunch, invited us for breakfast and toured us out to see the volcano ( Tarawera) that shaped the Rotorua area for what it is today. We also took a walk through and incredible redwood forest. Then the three of us went on a gondola ride and cruised on some luges in the hills for about an hour.
Then we made our way to Waitomo and the glo worm caves. We had a very cool 2 hour tour of some natural underground caves, with stalagmites and stalictites, and then glo worms, so neat! Our guide Angus has been a part of the whole set up for the last 20 years. He was great.
Our stay in Taupo was short. The weather was cracky, so we cancelled a jet boat tour and headed out to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island. The morning before the ferry left we went for a tour of the Te Papa Museum, the National Museum of New Zealand. It is amazing and our guide was, again, great. I wish we had a full day to spend there, another time I guess. The ferry was delayed due to rough weather the night before, so our 2 PM departure left at 4:30, but the 3 hour ride passed quickly because we watched a movie in the cinema!
We arrived safely and without incident to the South Island and on to new adventures!
This holiday has been amazing, but applying for jobs in the middle of it, does not seam right at all, I must say. oh well, I guess that is an adventure unto itself!!
No comments:
Post a Comment